Wetsuits suck

Wow.. I remember reading this article on SwimBikeMom about a year or so ago, but man... I had no idea how accurate every bit of that was.  Goat and I had tried on wetsuits back in the fall, and each purchased the same one (twinsies!), and yes, the try on session alone was a struggle.  Two of us in a small hot bathroom with zero experience putting these things on... and lots of interested commentary.  Anyhoo, after a nasty winter, we are finally getting some decent weather and were prepared to test these babies.

We had a nice 36 mile ride that morning, crossing over the lake several times... where you could see the pollen scumming up the water, and blowing across the road in clouds.  Ugh!  This same lake is the one we came back to that evening to test our suits.

Getting them on was surprisingly not hard (not easy, but not hard).  I'd met a lady at the pool recently who suggested turning the whole thing inside out, then just rolling it on, and that worked like a champ!  Suited up, we entered the water.  Whoo!  That mess was COLD! The strangest part was when the water started to seep through the zipper, and you could feel it trickling down your crack.. because that's where it goes first.  It's like peeing in the pool in reverse, with a cold spot that gradually spreads!   The moment of truth.  I started with a breast stroke just to see how the suit felt and then I put my face in that very cold pollen soup.  ARGH!.  So cold!  The suit does a nice job of insulating you, but the shock of the cold water on the face is going to take some getting used to.  The combination of that plus the pressure from the suit took a lot to get past!  I don't know why, but it seems really hard to exhale when your face is cold.  And when you don't exhale, it's hard to get a fresh INHALE.

I think the pollen soup further complicated things.. or that combined with the cold.. I just got really snotty and congested.  As you might imagine, that makes it hard to breathe!  Through a sad, slow combination of breast stroke, backstroke, and some floating and treading water, we got about 200 yards out before I'd had enough. Fortunately, Goat didn't put up a fight!  There was maybe a 25 yard stretch where I managed to calm myself down and settle into a bit of a groove before freaking out again.  The swim back was against the current, too, so it looked like I wasn't making any progress, and that combined with being tired, breathing too hard but not enough nearly did me in!  I was never so happy to put my feet on firm ground.

One of the super nice guys who was kayaking alongside us suggested vasoline on the face to help insulate against the cold.  I've already signed up for the Beach to Battleship, so by hook or by crook, I need to figure this out!  My plan is vasoline plus my snorkel.. I figure if I can just float and force myself into a calm breathing pattern, then I can add in "real" breathing.  Baby steps..